chaff Summary and Overview

the refuse of winnowed corn. It was usually burned (Ex. 15:7; Isa. 5:24; Matt. 3:12). This word sometimes, however, means dried grass or hay (Isa. 5:24; 33:11). Chaff is used as a figure of abortive wickedness (Ps. 1:4; Matt. 3:12). False doctrines are also called chaff (Jer. 23:28), or more correctly rendered "chopped straw." The destruction of the wicked, and their powerlessness, are likened to the carrying away of chaff by the wind (Isa. 17:13; Hos. 13:3; Zeph. 2:2).

the husk of corn or wheat which was separated from the grain by being thrown into the air, the wind blowing away the chaff, while the grain was saved. The carrying away of chaff by the wind is an ordinary scriptural image of the destruction of the wicked and of their powerlessness to resist God's judgments. #Ps 1:4; Isa 17:13; Ho 13:3; Zep 2:2|

CHAFF . The Hebrew farmer separated the corn from the husk by throwing the mixed mass up against the wind. On account of their weight, the grains were thrown quite a distance, while the light chaff fell immediately to the ground if not blown entirely away. Hence the exceedingly forcible image of the wicked being swept off by the breath of God. Ps 1:4; Ps 35:5. In the figurative language of John the Baptist, the winnowing shovel -called in our version a "fan" -is said to be in the hand of God, and with it he will thoroughly purge his floor. Matt 3:12; Luke 3:17.

All refuse of threshed and winnowed grain, not merely the outer covering as with us. Image of all worthless doctrine, and vain counsels, and hollow professors, about to perish utterly. Jeremiah 23:28; "What is the chaff to the wheat?" God answers the objection, What must we do when lies are spoken as truths and prophets oppose prophets? Do as you would with wheat mixed with chaff; do not reject the wheat, because of the chaff mixed with it, but bring both to the test of "My word" (Jeremiah 23:27; Jeremiah 23:29); so discriminate as to what to reject, and what to keep. My word, which is wheat or food to the true prophet and his hearers, is a consuming "fire" to the "chaff," i.e. false prophets, their followers and doctrine. (Psalm 1:4; Isaiah 33:11; Isaiah 17:13; Hosea 13:3; Matthew 3:12.) Chaff is separated from the grain, after having been threshed, on high threshing floors on hills, to earth the wind. So the final doom of the world powers before the coming manifested kingdom of Messiah (Daniel 2:35). "(Before) the day pass as the chaff" in Zephaniah 2:2 means, Before the day of repentance pass, and with it you, ungodly, pass away as the chaff.